The Ties that Bind
by arcanioque
Summary: All this time while Roxas had been chasing the girl of his dreams, he hadn’t known someone had been behind the scenes helping him all along. [ friendship!roxashayner ]


The Ties that Bind 

_experimental roxashaynerfriendship_

_um, your usual friendship fluff whatever._

_the fandom lacks roxashaynerfriendship fluff. so there you go. not a fic to devour if you're not prepared to sit down and um, have long attention span in waddling through the entire fic. i haven't written something this long for, i dunno, ages. i mean it. _

_credit goes to Chris Daughtry. His song 'Home' inspired this fic wholly. Honestly. _

_All this time while Roxas had been chasing the girl of his dreams, he hadn't known someone had been behind the scenes helping him all along. friendship!roxashayner _

_-_

The first time Roxas met the girl of his dreams, he tripped and fell and stumbled down the stairway. He had suffered two bumps on his forehead the next day and subsequently the following week. What was worst - the pain, or the embarrassment of remembering his best friend having been there by his side to witness his most humiliating moment, Roxas wasn't really sure.

All he knew at that instant was he _needed _to know her. He was a wreck the rest of the week, because each time he dived into his textbooks and homework, he couldn't forget the sight of that pair of brown, brown eyes.

It was a Monday, when his civics tutor transferred him to another Science class, and Roxas realized it must have been the work of a miracle, because he learnt _she _sat diagonally up across him, and eventually they ended up as lab partners when he hurriedly volunteered to pair up with her in that frog-dissecting experiment.

He still didn't dare ask for her name, and she never gave it to him.

On a Tuesday, Roxas opened his locker, to see a slip of white paper float out to rest neatly onto the floor. It read: Olette. And for the rest of the minute, he hugged the paper close to his heart, shut his eyelids, and whispered her name under his breath until the bell signalled the start of homeroom classes. For the first time in the week (even though only two days had passed), a small hint of a smile traced his lips.

He walked into class and sat next to his best friend as usual, oblivious to the contented smile on the latter's face as well. And when Hayner leant in, punched Roxas in the shoulder, and asked why he looked as if he'd seen a supermodel in bikini, Roxas lightly boxed Hayner back (in the ears), and in their usual friendly-or-not exchange, threw a wadded-up paper ball into his face.

Wednesday, Roxas confessed to Hayner he couldn't get her out of his thoughts. He needed a way to approach her for a date, and he asked Hayner for advice because "you have always been the smart one in class however lazy you are". Hayner responded with fifteen tips to woo a girl, and it didn't take Roxas long to churn out a poem signed _anonymous. _

"You're not giving it to her after you've practically spent five hours writing this poem and dumping the draft ones into your dustbin?" Hayner looked as if Roxas had cornstalks growing out of his ears.

Roxas colored, and dipped his head in his attempt to hide it. "It sounds too cheesy...and it's really not me--"

"Give it to me." Hayner snatched the poem from Roxas' fingertips. He read it once. Twice, then all over again, while Roxas stood before him dumbly flushing impossibly deeper shades of red.

At long last, Hayner had looked up, grinning from ear to ear. "You're right, Roxas, this _is _cheesy."

Roxas sighed, took the poem back, and proceeded to tear the poem into many, many pieces. "Besides, I'll never have the courage to give it to her anyway."

It was a Thursday, during the same frog-dissecting experiment, when Olette had suddenly leant in so close to Roxas, he froze where he was. He didn't quite remember what she'd said, other than, "Yes, I'd go with you to the movies tonight."

Roxas' eyes widened as she showed him the poem he'd written. Cheesy and sappy as ever, and it was his creativity alright there.

But this wasn't his handwriting. And he certainly hadn't drawn those little roses and a sketch of a couple holding hands adorning the borders.

Friday morning, Roxas spent his entire break tracking down his civics tutor. It was only after lunch that he had located her in the cafeteria. It had taken him three minutes to finally convince her to leave her food for "something really important", and it was only in the office where he had spoken to Mrs. Applebee personally, that it finally dawned upon him.

"It wasn't you who wanted me to transfer to another Science class?" Roxas looked puzzled.

"Why, no, Roxas," Mrs. Applebee was smiling, "your friend Hayner thought you'd catch up faster in your weakest subject if you were to be placed in a more competitive environment. I must say, his suggestion really bore fruits in the end, you've shown drastic improvement in your Science ever since!"

-

Hayner always had Math tuition away from home on Saturday morning. Roxas never ran so hard in his life, sneaking up and down his best friend's backyard and garden, before adroitly climbing up those snaking plants and making his way into Roxas' bedroom.

And there, on that wooden oak table, was _his _poem, all torn up into a hundred and so pieces. Only this time, they had been glued together meticulously with extra care. As Roxas picked the paper between his fingertips, he realized it was also Hayner who had beta-read and corrected his grammatical errors and spelling mistakes before copying it out onto another piece of paper to be sent to Olette.

Pivoting on his heels, Roxas caught sight of the alarm clock on the shelf set at 6am.

Hayner never woke up this early at this hour.

"Why, Roxas," Hayner's mother shook her head, "Hayner said he needed to get to school very early on Tuesday and Thursday morning to make an errand for a teacher. On Thursday, he came back home after skateboard practice and looked really ill."

She sighed.

"I told him he shouldn't have stayed up the whole night editing some poem in his room."

"...Whole night?"

"Yes, Hayner said it was a class assignment for English literature. I never knew he was such a hardworking boy!"

And out of the corner of his eyes, Roxas caught sight of a photograph protruding out of Hayner's Math textbook. He picked it up, dusted the dirt away. His eyes met the same familiar pair of brown, brown eyes he'd fallen in love with since the day he first saw her.

It was on a Saturday when Roxas learnt Hayner had liked Olette, too. And had liked her since childhood, since elementary school days, for many, many years.

-

"Yo Rox, I'm guessing you must have had an awesome date!" Hayner grinned as he bit into his burger, "So tell me about it, c'mon, I'm waiting for the details! D-E-T-A-I-L-S!"

Roxas sat very, very still in his seat.

Hayner's eyebrow shot up so high, it nearly disappeared into his hair.

When Roxas didn't reply for the next few seconds, Hayner hurriedly jumped out of his seat and made his way towards his friend. He looked worried. "Hey, Rox, ya okay? It's fine if you want to spare me the details--"

"No, Hayner." Roxas shook his head.

Hayner's forehead creased. "Aww shucks, Rox, I'm guessing it didn't work out?"

"No. It didn't." Roxas confessed.

He wasn't lying. It really hadn't.

Hayner took his seat by Roxas' table in the empty classroom. He wrapped his burger and placed it behind him. He then punched Roxas lightly in the shoulder, "You'll be okay?"

"And if I'm not?" The corner of Roxas' lips betrayed him.

Hayner grinned, and met Roxas' kunckles with his in their hi-five-kind-of-box-punch they always exchanged since the first time they'd known each other, "Sea-salt ice cream. My treat."

Roxas smiled. Had been the first time he'd smiled for a long, long time.

The sun shone into the windows brightly.

Roxas pushed himself off the seat and rested his hands behind his head. He eyed Hayner. "Nah, I'm not really in the mood."

"You sure you're okay?" Hayner still looked genuinely worried. It was difficult for Roxas not to smile. "I mean, if you ever need a shoulder or something--"

"I'm fine, Hayn. I was thinking of going fishing."

Hayner's eyes brightened. "You're on, Roxas! I'll run back home to get my rod!"

And as Hayner took off, Roxas ran after his best friend as fast as he could. "Wait up, Hayner!"

"Last one to meet at the docks is a big fat tortoise!"

The two friends raced.

As both of them winded around a corner, Roxas finally caught up with his faster friend, looped an arm around Hayner's neck, and ended up sending both of them flying off course two feet away from each other.

Amidst bouts of laughter, Roxas looked up to see Hayner stretching his arm towards him. Accepting the offer, he pulled himself up, then allowed Hayner to nearly throttle him again with his arm around Roxas' neck in their usual friendly gesture.

The two walked side by side, talking about who was going to catch the biggest fish, until Roxas finally boxed Hayner in the ear (so that the latter was forced to let go of his hooked arm around his friend's neck) and threw a bunch of wadded-up paper balls he'd hid in his backpack in his face.

"And what was that for, Roxas?"

Roxas allowed Hayner to box him back in the ears.

He deserved it, anyway.

"Thanks, Hayner." This time, it was Roxas who looped an arm around Hayner's neck.

So he hadn't gotten the girl of his dreams after all. So he'd his hopes crushed in a matter of a week. But what did it matter when he had got the most awesome friend in the world?

"Thank me?" Hayner genuinely looked confused. "For what?"

Then it took him three seconds before it hit him, and Hayner grinned sheepishly. "Jeez, you sure got to me in the end, huh."

"So you liked her - and you never told me about it!"

"Hey, I've liked her for only four years--"

"Four!"

"But what does it matter, Rox? I've known you since forever. And if there's anything more important than girlfriends and sweethearts," Hayner pretended to look thoughtful, but really, it didn't seemed like it took alot for him to settle on the next line, "it's our _friendship, _okay, Rox?"

Roxas shook his head. His friend was such an idiot sometimes.

"You're really stupid sometimes, you know that?"

"Yeah, I know."

And they were racing each other again.

"Hey, Hayner?" Roxas called out, breathless. They were still running.

"What?"

"Thanks. For everything."

Hayner made a face, but the smile on his face was unmistakable.

"You can bet your last socks you're indebted to me for about fifteen scoops of sea-salt ice cream!"

Their hands met in a hi-five.

"Deal." Roxas grinned.

And they ran the race.

**owari **

a/n:

roxas hayner friendship fluff makes anyone's world go round and hearts go warm. (in the humble authoress' POV anyway) at least, writing this did the exact said thing to mine. now my heart's all fuzzy. gee. i sound cheesy.

reviews will be kindly appreciated, and if you enjoyed this, please do click on the review button! Writing this fic hadn't been easy at all, and it took me alot of time and mental strength before I finally worked myself up to wind up the fic and complete it, so reviews won't be just glomped by authoress, they will be WORSHIPPED!

XD

i exaggerate.

and spread the roxashaynerfriendship love around. the fandom needs a whole lot more to keep the friendship fluff going.


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